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{{short description|1st Chief Justice of India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox judge
| honorific-prefix = '''[[The Honourable]]'''<br> [[Chief Justice of India]]
| name = Hiralal Jekisundas Kania
| image = Justice H. J. Kania.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| order = [[List of chief justices of India|1st]]
| office = Chief Justice of India
| term_start = 28 January 1950
| term_end = 6 November 1951
| nominator =
| appointer = [[Rajendra Prasad]]
| predecessor = Position established
| successor = [[M. Patanjali Sastri]]
| birth_date = 3 November 1890
| birth_place = [[Navsari]], [[British India]] (now in [[Gujarat, India]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1951|11|6|1890|11|3|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], India
| nationality = Indian
| spouse = Kusum Mehta
| party =Indian National Congress 1923to1926
| relations =
| children = Rukmini Shah
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[Government Law College, Mumbai]] , [[Government Law College, Chennai]] [[University of Madras]]
| occupation =
| profession =
| signature =
| signature_alt=
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Sir Hiralal Jekisundas Kania''' (3 November 1890 – 6 November 1951) was the first [[Chief Justice of India]]. He served as the Chief Justice of India from 1950 to 1951. He died while serving in office in 1951.<ref>{{cite web| title=Former Hon'ble Chief Justices' of India: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Hiralal Jekisundas Kania| url=http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/rcji/01hjkania.htm| publisher=Supreme Court of India| access-date=20 January 2016}}</ref>

==Biography==

Kania was born in a middle-class family at Surat. His grandfather had been a revenue officer in Gujarat with the British Government, and his father Jekisundas Kania was a Sanskrit professor and later principal of [[Samaldas College]] in the [[princely state]] of [[Bhavnagar]]. His elder brother Hiralal Jekisundas Kania was also a barrister whose son [[Madhukar Hiralal Kania]] became a Supreme Court judge in 1987, and subsequently Chief Justice. Kania took his BA from Samaldas College in 1910, followed by an LLB from Government Law College, Bombay in 1912 and an LLM from the same institution in 1913. He began to practise as a barrister at the Bombay High Court in 1915, subsequently marrying Kusum Mehta, the daughter of [[Sir Chunilal Mehta]], sometime member of the executive council of the Governor of Bombay."<ref>{{cite news| title=Mr. Harilal Kania Dead: First Indian Chief Justice At Centre| work=[[Times of India]]| date=11 July 1951}}</ref>

For a time, Kania served as acting editor of the ''Indian Law Reports.'' Briefly serving as an acting judge on the [[Bombay High Court]] in 1930, he was appointed an additional judge on the same court in June 1931, serving until March 1933. Kania then returned to the bar for three months until he was promoted to associate judge in June. Kania was knighted in the [[1943 Birthday Honours]] list.<ref>{{cite journal| title=Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood| url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36033/supplement/2422| work=[[London Gazette]]| date=28 May 1943| page=2422}}]</ref> By then the most senior associate judge at the High Court, he was intended to succeed Chief Justice [[Sir John Beaumont]] upon the latter's retirement; however, as Beaumont was biased against Indians, he passed Kania over in favour of the next in line, [[Sir John Stone]]. While Stone was personally against Kania being passed over, he accepted Beaumont's nomination. However, Kania served as acting chief justice from May–September 1944 and from June–October 1945. He was promoted to associate judge of the [[Federal Court of India]], then headed by Sir [[Patrick Spens, 1st Baron Spens|Patrick Spens]] (later Lord Spens) on 20 June 1946. Spens retired on 14 August 1947, and Kania succeeded him as Chief Justice. After India became a republic on 26 January 1950, Kania was appointed the first Chief Justice of the [[Supreme Court of India]]. Acting as Chief Justice he read the oath to the first [[President of India]] Dr. [[Rajendra Prasad]]. He died while in office of a sudden heart attack on 6 November 1951, aged 61.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gardbois Jr. |first=George H. |title=Judges of the Supreme Court of India 1950-1989 |url=http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198070610.001.0001/acprof-9780198070610 |access-date=2016-01-20 |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-807061-0 |pages=13–20}}</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

* {{cite web |url=http://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/bio/hjkania.htm |title= Biography of H. J. Kania |publisher=Supreme Court of India |access-date=2008-06-11}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.glc.edu/library.asp |title=H.J. Kania Memorial Library |publisher=The Government Law College, Mumbai |access-date=2008-06-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212053117/http://www.glc.edu/library.asp |archive-date=12 February 2006 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Gadbois, Jr.|first=George H.|date=February 1969|title=Indian Supreme Court Judges: A Portrait|journal=Law & Society Review|volume=3|issue=2/3|pages=317–336|jstor=3053006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}

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{{succession box | title=Chief Justice of the [[Federal Court of India]] | before=[[Patrick Spens, 1st Baron Spens|Patrick Spens]] | after=himself as [[Chief Justice of India]] | years=}}
{{succession box | title=[[Chief Justice of India]] | before=Chief Justice of the [[Federal Court of India]] | after=[[M. Patanjali Sastri]] | years=15 August 1947–6 November 1951}}
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{{Chief Justices of India}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kania, H. J.}}
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:Chief Justices of India]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Judges of the Bombay High Court]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Surat]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]

[[ml:എച്ച്.ജെ. കനിയ]]

H. J. Kania - Revision history

UpdateBot at 02:57, 2 June 2022